Say Something
by Athena Evarinya
Summary: The Uchiha has returned to discover that many things and people remain have, for the most part, remain unchanged. However, the one person who he thought would always remain that constant in his life has changed the most. Now while he fights for his place back in the village, he must decide what he feels and whether he wants to fight a place back into one kunoichi 's heart.
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

Over a decade had passed since she had last entered the Forest of Death. The first and only time had been when she first attempted to take the Chuunin Exam. Back then, she had entered it as a fangirling kunoichi with very little skills to recommend her amongst her peers. It was embarrassing to her as she looked back upon the behavior of her pre-teen self, although she was able to console herself a bit with the knowledge that she had been only twelve and thus allowed some excuse for the fangirling.

But then again, when she thought about the two years she had taught in the Ninja Academy as a temporary sub until a replacement could be found and the female students she had taught... Well her twelve-year old self seemed even more immature and selfish to her. She could only be thankful that she no longer acted that way and that she had come a long way since then.

She no longer displayed any fangirling behavior, well perhaps not often and in a totally different context then she had in the past. She was no longer weak and without skills. She could hold her head up high and say she was worthy of being called a ninja of Konoha and that she ranked pretty high among the kunoichis. She could probably say that without a doubt that she was damn better then that Ino-pig. Their friendship might have returned after their first attempt at the Chuunin Exam, but the rivalry that had developed in their early years would always remain.

The forest was eerily silent except for the rustling of the autumn leaves that littered the forest floor by the wind. That same wind played with strands of her hair that were the same shade of pink as the blossoms that she was named for. Her stance seemed relaxed, but the trained eye could see a level of focus and tension in her. She was well aware of the monsters that called this forest home and had no intention of becoming their meal. Not only would it be a shame for her to die so young, but it would be incredibly embarrassing considering she was no rookie Genin anymore.

Jade green eyes surveyed the clearing around her. It had been a while, but she was certain that this was the same spot where the Sound-nin had attacked her team all those years ago. The same spot where she had vowed to get stronger. No longer would she stare at the backs of her companions as they fought and be protected by them. She would fight by their side and protect them as they had done for her. She would no longer shame herself or them by not being strong enough or skilled enough. Or just… enough.

Logically, she had known then that the difference between her and her teammates was an ever-widening canyon. There was a chance that she might never reach an equal footing with them. But she hadn't let that stop her from trying because not trying was worse then never being their equals. It was better to try and do her best. So she had decided then and there that she would train and get as strong as it possibly was for someone like her.

She hadn't been like her teammates and age-mates. They had all had come from a long line of shinobi and some were blessed to be in families with bloodline limits. She was only a second generation shinobi. Her father had been the son of a baker, who had wanted more in life then to bake bread and cakes. The talent had been there and he had proven that he had the determination to become one of the best and rise high in the shinobi ranks. But his career had been cut short during a Rank B mission that had left him with a permanent limp, a handicap that would make it impossible for him to continue with his life's dream.

Having to give up his life as a ninja and becoming a baker like his father had made Haruno Hisoka into a bitter man. It wasn't that he was incapable of happiness and joy or that he had been a cruel father. He had merely been hard to live with sometimes. She understood that losing a cherished dream was hard and while he loved her, she knew he had been disappointed that she had not been his hoped for son, that would fulfill his dream. Her birth had been a complicated one, with the end result being that her mother was not to have any more children unless she wanted to risk her life.

As much as her father wanted a son, he would not risk the woman he loved. He would just have to place his dream in the hands of his daughter. It was only because she had wanted to please her father that she had entered the Ninja Academy. At the age of five, she really had no aspirations to be a kunoichi. Her dreams had been more along the lines of getting married to a prince and having a family of her own. But she loved her father and then there was nothing more that she wanted then his approval.

The first few weeks at the Academy had perhaps been her most frustrating. Most of the other students already had some training from their parents, so they were able to perform the simple jutsu. Her father had refused to teach her, whether out of bitterness of the past or because he wanted her to prove herself on her own like he had done, she didn't know. The only thin that she had known was that she wasn't doing so well, she felt shy and out of place, and the other kids were making fun of her because they said her forehead was too big. It was the first time anyone had mentioned anything of the sort to her.

She remembered the first time she had come home crying. Her father, thankfully, had been a way since she had a feeling he would have scolded her. A good ninja never showed their emotions, he would have said. But her mother had been there to comfort her. Haruno Mizuki was a woman who wanted only her child's happiness and had been concerned that the pressures that her husband placed upon their daughter, subtle and not-so-subtle, would do more damage then good. She was a simple woman who respected ninjas, yet there was something in her words that said that she wasn't entirely pleased with the entire code of the shinobi. Sakura often wondered whether her mother's past before she had married Hisoka had anything to do with it. Mizuki had told her daughter that it was fine to choose a different path and that she would deal with Sakura's father if he made too much of a fuss.

But Sakura had refused to give up. She wanted to make her father proud, because she was bright enough to realize that while he loved her, she was a disappointment because she didn't have the required appendage between her legs to be his son. So she had plowed ahead, using the intelligence that she had inherited from her parents to help close some of the gap between her and the other students. This in turn had increased the teasing about her forehead because now her forehead size was equated with her being overly intelligent. Feeling more self-conscious about her appearance and the difference between her and the other children, she had become a bit introverted and lost what little confidence she had to stand up for herself.

When it seemed like things just wouldn't get any better, Ino became her friend. Ino had been her first real friend (one could not consider her much-cherished teddy bear, Pooka to be a real friend after all). She had defended Sakura from the bullies and had helped build up Sakura's confidence piece by piece. So it had been with great regret that she had ended their friendship, when it was discovered that they were both crushing on the same boy. If they had remained friends, she was certain that she would have given up to Ino simply out of gratitude for all she had done. The blonde would have been furious if that had happened because Ino didn't like winning by default and because she hadn't spent all that time building up Sakura to have her give up so easily, even to her. She would have wanted a rival and an equal and Sakura had been determined to fulfill her friend's wish.

So Academy life had improved due to Ino; their friendship and rivalry. And in some ways her crush upon Sasuke had been a plus because it was an extra incentive to do well. But she had still lacked the motivation to be a ninja. It wouldn't be until she graduated from the Academy and became a Genin on Team 7 that she would begin to make that change. However it wouldn't be until the Chuunin Exam that she found her reason to be a ninja and made her vow to become stronger and then even longer still, until the arrival of the Godaime Hokage, before she could truly being to fulfill that vow.

And a change had occurred in her. She was no longer a ninja because of her father's dream, nor was it because her friends and teachers. She was a ninja because Haruno Sakura wanted to be one. She wanted to the strength and the skills to protect all that she loved and the best way to do so in her eyes was to become one of Konoha's strongest ninjas.

"I kept my promise," she whispered to the forest. "I have the power to protect the ones I love. I'm not weak any more."

Perhaps it was her own imagination, but she felt like the forest answered. It approved of what she had done. Of the change that she had made in herself. Once she had been a self-centered and shallow young girl who was lacking in so many different areas. Now she was a confident and strong kunoichi.

Then she heard the slightest of movements, reacting as soon as she recognized it as a possible threat. She drew a kunai as her body turned and settled into a stance that would allow her to defend against attack or go on the offensive at a moment's notice. The sight that graced her made her eyes widen and intake a sharp breathe.

"Sasuke?"

* * *

_**Final Thought from Sakura:**__  
…Sasuke…?_

* * *

_**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**__ Okay I'm probably a little behind in the manga at the moment, but I'm not completely oblivious to what's been going on. However, as far as this story's concerned, everything that happened after the "Save Gaara" arc does not exist. Also this is another story of mine that's being revised, most of it's fairly the same as the first go around although there are some bits that are reworded or added to. I also decided to rename the story which was once called "__**Back To Your Heart"**__._

_I don't have a Beta so if you anything that I missed while editing, let me know so I can fix it. Thanks!_

* * *

_**kunoichi** \- female ninja_

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_**Disclaimer**__: I do not claim any rights to Naruto or the characters associated with the anime/manga. Those rights belong to Kishimoto Masashi and anyone else he says has rights to it._


	2. The Uchiha's Return

_**Chapter One: The Uchiha's Return**_

Cool black eyes met equally cool amber ones that gave him no hint of what the mind behind those eyes were thinking. The only thing that Sasuke could conclude, about this meeting with the Godaime Hokage, was that she was trying to intimidate him with numbers and power. Not a single person in this room held a rank lower than the rank of Jonin and there was no less than a dozen shinobi in the room; thirteen if you counted the Hokage's assistant although he had no knowledge if she had a ranking. One did not have to have a rank to be a ninja, nor know how to fight like one. Besides the woman was the assistant of the Hokage; she had to know something about fighting.

He carefully assessed the shinobi that surrounded him, making him feel like a cornered beast. Out of the twelve in the room, only four did not wear the masks or have the signature spiral-like tattoos on their left shoulder that identified those who were ANBU. It may have been years since he had seen them, but he had little problem identifying the four.

The silver pupil-less eyes of one of the female Jounin made her easily identifiable as a Hyuuga, but it was the serenity in her expression that told him that she was the Hyuuga heiress and not her younger sister. Hyuuga Hinata, he had remembered had been a more peaceful soul then her younger sister, which made it a bit of a surprise that she had reached Jonin level. Apparently the heiress had found something inside her to fight and make it so far high up in the ranks. The other Jounin female was even easier to recognize. Long blonde hair pulled up into a high ponytail, bright blue eyes, and a body that could probably and did stop traffic on a frequent and regular basis; there was no doubt that this was Yamanaka Ino. While he hadn't participated in such conversations, Sasuke remembered hearing the other boys talk about and make bets about Ino growing up into a blonde bombshell. It seemed she hadn't let any of them down.

From the intimidating frame of one of the male Jounin and the similar armor and hairstyle of Akimichi Choza, he guessed the man to be Akimichi Choji who had been on Team 10 with Ino. When they were younger Choji had seemed obese, but now it seemed that the man had grown into his weight so that it looked better on him. The other Jounin was even more easily identifiable by his glaring similarities to Maito Gai. It seemed that except for height, Rock Lee had not changed much in physical appearance, Sasuke thought with some amusement.

As for the ANBU, he wasn't sure of most of their identities. ANBU were trained at concealing or masking their chakra in case their targets were skilled in searching for enemies by this method. And he no longer had Karin to help him with this kind of problem, so he could only surmise their identities by physical clues which with ANBU wasn't much to go on since they were all wearing their masks and the hoods of the cloaks they were all wearing were pulled up to hide a distinguishable feature like hair. From a first glance all he knew was that out of the eight, two were women. A second glance told him that one of the men had to be an Inuzuka although he wasn't sure if it was the Inuzuka that he knew. Kiba wasn't the only Inuzuka that had reached his majority and this could even be one of the much older clan members. Besides, Kiba's ninken, Akamaru hadn't been that big when he left Konoha and he didn't think it could be possible for the dog to grow that much. The mutt hadn't seemed to be a breed that would get much bigger then he had been back then.

So he knew who four of the ninja in the room and at least could identify the clan of one of the ANBU, but the other seven were a mystery. And it annoyed him, for several different reasons, that Naruto and Sakura weren't in here. They had been his former teammates so he would have thought that they would be here or making a ruckus of not being allowed. They had both been quite determined to bring him back in the past so they would have wanted a say now that he had returned. Besides Sakura had been the one to bring him back to the village.

Sasuke didn't know what had possessed him to go into the Forest of Death before heading for Konoha, but he had decided to follow his instincts and they had led him to the straight to the clearing where the Cursed Seal had first awakened in him. And in that clearing he had found a kunoichi with her back turned to him with hair a distinctive shade of pink that he knew could only belong to one person. He had been surprised when she had heard him move closer; the Sakura he had once known would have never sensed his presence, but the one today had. He had been filled with pride for his former teammate for the way she had fallen into a ready position that he recognized would have allowed her the mobility to defend or attack.

A part of him knew that she had changed over the years. He had seen her a few times in the years after he had left the village, but his mind had always continued to think of her, as well as their other teammate, in the way they had been when they were all twelve. It was only now that he had seen her again that Sakura was no longer a child, but a young woman. Her attire had been, he realized now, somewhat similar to Tsunade's.

Like the Godaime Hokage, Sakura had been wearing a kimono coat although the younger kunoichi's had been red, with the lining around the collar and down the coat flaps being white. He also remembered seeing the white circle on her back that had been prevalent on all her outfits when they were younger. She also wore similar pants to Tsunade although hers were tighter and black instead of a dark navy blue the older woman wore, but Sakura's shoes had been identical to the blonde as well as Shizune's.

Not surprising really as his mother had had a liking for that style as well, since they allowed a woman comfort and mobility to allow her to fight if she had to, yet also allowed her to be fashionable as well. The only major difference between the two women's outfits besides color was the fact that Sakura had been wearing a red halter top that had bared a bit of abs when she moved and that she had been wearing hitai-ate in the way that it was supposed to be instead of a fashion accessory which was her normal custom unless she was taking her fighting more seriously then usual.

But still it had been quite obvious that Sakura shared similar fashion tastes as the Godaime Hokage. Not surprising since Orochimaru had told him long ago, before Sasuke has slain him, that Tsunade has taken his former teammate as her apprentice. The Sakura, that he had known, had lacked the confidence in herself that she needed to succeed and from what he knew of the Godaime Hokage, she had been the right person to help Sakura change that. It was little wonder why Sakura choose to emulate her shishou in some way, although he wondered what else she had chosen to emulate about the Hokage. She had seemed more reserved when he had told her that he was returning to the village and had allowed her to restrain him while she escorting him back.

"Uchiha Sasuke," Tsunade said softly, drawing his attention from his wandering thoughts about the people he had known and the situation at hand. "Eleven years ago you left Konohagakure without permission, becoming a missing-nin like your older brother." There was just the barest hint of Sasuke tensing at the mention of Itachi. "There have also been documentations of you attacking Konoha-nin; worse is the fact that those attacked were your former companions. Yet now you have returned in restraints by one of your former companions. What do you want? You know that it is impossible to expect to just walk back without repercussions."

"I want to return home."

"And what of your revenge against Uchiha Itachi?"

"He's dead," Sasuke replied flatly, although if a person knew what to look for they could see that there was a wealth of emotion behind that statement that the last Uchiha did not want to discuss, let alone think about. He reached into his pocket, making the shinobi in the room tense although there was no need since they had already confiscated all his weapons. He pulled out a hitai-ate with a scratch mark through it and tossed it the Tsunade who caught it and examined it. There was little doubt who this could belong to. There were very few missing-nin from the village these days and everyone knew that Naruto and Sakura possessed Sasukes old hitai-ate. "I've avenged my clan. Now I want nothing more to return home and restore it to its former glory."

"You do realize that even if I allow you to return, it will be under strict conditions? And then there is the fact to consider that most of the village will not accept you back within the fold so easily. If you're not accepted, there is no way you will be able to return the Uchiha clan back to its former standing."

"I'm not afraid to fight for what I want," he said, his voice laced with pride and determination. Perhaps he had not made the best decision to run off on his own to avenge his clan, but it was the decision he had made. Everyone had been relieved when Itachi had left. No one in the village had given a damn about avenging one of its clans. No that wasn't right…

"_I swear! I would do anything for you! So please, just stay with me. I´ll even help you with your revenge. I don´t know what I could do but I´ll try my best to do something."_

Sakura's youthful voice filtered through his mind. He didn't think she had understood completely how much it meant to him to avenge his clan back then, but that hadn't mattered to her. She had wanted him to stay and had been willing to do anything to help him accomplish his goals because she had cared about him. So there had been one person who had cared, perhaps two if he counted Naruto. When he thought about it now, he was sure the boy, who had beaten a place for himself into Sasuke's life, would have helped him in his revenge if he had been asked.

"Very well," Tsunade said, after a moment of silence as she considered what to do. There were no pesky council members to worry about since they had all been old, holdovers from Sandaime's reign, and had died of old age. Until new ones were elected and chosen, there were only three people's advice that she took under consideration and she was certain she knew what they would want.

"Uchiha Sasuke, you will be taken off the missing-nin list and allowed to return to Konoha but only under these terms. First of all, for the next year, you will take any missions assigned to you, regardless of difficulty or the fact that you, still holding the rank of Genin, might class them as unavailable to you."

Sasuke nodded. What she wasn't saying was that he would probably get assigned some of the most difficult missions and have to put his life on the line time and time again for the next year to prove that he would be loyal to Konoha again. He had as expected as much. And while he held the rank of Genin still, they both knew his abilities exceeded that of the Genin level.

"Secondly, you will also begin training to take the Chunin Exam that will be held two months from now in Suna."

That condition he understood to be a matter of pride for Konoha. No Leaf-nin at his age would be a mere Genin. Usually those who had no hopes of reaching Chunin level often put in their resignation then face the disgrace of never being strong enough to move higher. At twenty-three, he should have been at least a Jounin by now and he would have been had he stayed in the first place.

"Finally to make the transition for the village as well as you, you will be assigned two guardians for the period of three years. One or both of these guardians must be with you whenever you step one foot outside the Uchiha district and will accompany you on missions. They shall also be living with you within the Uchiha district and have the authority to appoint other shinobi to stay within the district as a precaution. The funds of the Uchiha clan were frozen at the time when you turned your back on Konoha, but will be unfrozen as you are the sole heir to the Uchiha wealth. The only restriction is that all financial transactions will have to be approved by one of your guardians."

It didn't sit too well with the Uchiha that he would be under house arrest for the next three years. He had always been a private person and now he would have to share his home with two others and whoever else they decided. If the Hokage chose two party animals, then the Uchiha district would become the new hotspot of Konoha. It wasn't a prospect that he would look forward to and it'd be hard to rebuild the clan when the district might be continuously suffering from damage from idiots who wouldn't appreciate his home as he would. He could only pray that the woman showed him some sympathy and choose responsible guardians. He could bare (barely) having guardians if they weren't the type to drive him crazy.

"Your guardians will be Uzumaki Naruto and Haruno Sakura. Do the two of you accept your mission?"

Shock radiated through Sasuke as the words of Godaime Hokage sank in. His former teammates were to be his chaperones and they were in this room, which mean that…

"Sure thing, Tsunade-baachan," a voice said from the direction of the door. Sasuke glanced at one of the ANBU standing and watched as the man pulled off his mask, which he now belatedly realized was that of a fox. A fox to symbolize the Kyuubi that was sealed within the man's body. The face looked much older then the face he remembered as a child or as the face he had last seen when they had been seventeen and reminded him of someone else although he couldn't put his finger on it. But those blue eyes were the same. Still filled with the same openness and determination that was characteristic of the Jinchuuriki.

"Naruto…" Tsunade said slowly in a dangerous tone. The idiot just had to antagonize the woman by referring to her as grandma. It didn't matter if the woman was old enough to be anyone's grandma. Her jutsu allowed her to keep her youthful looks and she didn't care for anyone to remind anyone that she wasn't really that young anymore.

"I accept as well, Tsunade-shishou," a female voice said, in an obvious attempt to make her teacher forgot her ire over her companion. Already having guessed earlier because of Tsunade's words that Sakura was one of the female ANBU in the room, he had guessed correctly to look at the one who stood closest to the Hokage.

Sakura took off her wolf mask and met Sasuke's eyes. Her lips curved slightly as to say to him, 'See? I was strong enough to become ANBU.' He gave her the faintest of smiles to acknowledge her achievement. They both knew that he would never have believed in a million years that she would be ANBU.

"The rest of you are dismissed," Tsunade said. Everyone in the room except for the former Team 7 and Shizune disappeared. "I'll leave it to you three to figure out the details of the next three years. I don't think any of the buildings of the Uchiha district are habitable so you'll have to figure out what to do until one of the houses can be repaired for you to live in. Report here at noon tomorrow for mission assignments. You are dismissed as well."

Sakura bowed her head in respect to her teacher while Naruto gave a distracted wave as he began pushing Sasuke out of the room with all the eagerness of a hyperactive puppy. Exchanging amused looks with her shishou and Shizune, Sakura followed behind the two and chuckled softly as her companions seem to fall easily into their old habit of quarreling.

"Took you long enough to get your ass back here. You're lucky that I didn't come looking for you again," Naruto said, eyeing Sasuke critically and apparently not caring much for the fact that Sasuke hadn't given up his look since his time with Orochimaru. "Your fashion sense could be better. You should have dropped the Sound-nin look long ago."

"I had things to take care of," Sasuke replied, with his signature smirk. "I can't believe they let you become ANBU, dobe. What was the Godaime thinking?"

"Okay, okay. We've got more important things to talk about guys," Sakura said quickly, sensing that she'd have a fight on her hands if she didn't step in. Maybe the two were mature enough to do some verbal sparring without it ending in any fists flying, but she wasn't about to take any chances. She and Naruto had just passed the test yesterday to become ANBU and had been officially inducted among their ranks this morning; Naruto would probably be a little defensive of anyone doubting his ability to be one for the first few months until he was settled into this new position.

"We have to go to the Uchiha district to see what kind of repairs will be needed," Sasuke said, his mind already considering the possible repairs that would have to be done to restore the corner of the village that had been reserved for his family. It would take a considerable amount of money as well and he was sure there would be some people who wouldn't care to work for him no matter the financial incentive. No matter, he'd do it himself if he had to. But first thing was first; he would have to restore his home for himself and now for two roommates.

"No, we don't," Sakura countered and then continued when she got a perplexed look from Sasuke. "I've checked the Uchiha district every six months since you left Konoha and kept track of its condition. I have a file at home of all the required repairs that would have to be done to revive it."

"And it's not that bad as you'd think," Naruto added. "I went with Sakura-chan sometimes and we'd fix a few things here or there. Your old house isn't that bad. It'll probably need a few repairs and to be checked, but I think we should all be able to move within the week. But until then, I guess we'll all be staying at Sakura-chan's apartment."

"Huh? WHY?" the kunoichi demanded. Sakura had just moved into the apartment a few months ago after another argument with her father which had resulted in being kicked out or moving of her own free will, depending on who's side you were listening to. She had roomed with Ino for a while, but had to find her own place since she couldn't deal with the blonde's messy lifestyle. While she was quite willing to help Sasuke get accepted back into Konoha, she hadn't been too thrilled with the all the details of her guardian duty. She liked her apartment and just when it was starting really become home to her, she'd have to give it up to move in with Sasuke and Naruto in the ghost-like Uchiha district.

"Well because your place is bigger then mine," Naruto replied in a tone one usually reserved for those who were slow-witted, which Sakura was most certainly not. She cracked her knuckles threateningly, making him back away hastily. He might have been a good half a foot taller then Sakura and outweighed her by a hundred plus pounds, but she was still scary as hell when pissed. She had always had a bit of a temper, but after blossoming under Tsunade's tutelage that temper had become scarier, especially with that crazy strength of hers that the Godaime had taught her.. It was one of the reasons he made sure to avoid topics that would piss off both women when they were all in the same room.

"Besides mine's all messy and I haven't had a chance to clean it up since my last mission. And I think the food that's left in the fridge has gone bad. And Tsunade-baachan did say we have to live together."

"Fine. I think my fridge is empty, so I'll go pick up some things for dinner while you two go over to Naruto's and gather his stuff. Later." With a wave, she was gone.

* * *

Sakura was setting her small dining room table when she heard knocking on her door followed by Naruto's loud, "Sakura-chan!" Really, her neighbors would probably be thrilled to get rid of her just so they wouldn't have to hear Naruto anymore. The man may have won the villagers over with his determination and love to protect them all, but he certainly hadn't endeared himself with her neighbors with his loud ways.

Shaking her head, she quickly finished setting the table and headed towards the door before Naruto decided she hadn't heard him the first time. "Hey guys. Perfect timing," she said, flashing a smile as she let them in.

She watched Sasuke as he examined her home, wondering what he thought but only in the sense of wanting a friend's approval instead of something more. She had moved on from her younger days of crushing on him; in those last few weeks together before he had left, her feelings had been something much stronger and pure then any crush. She had truly loved him with all she had and it had broken something in her when he had left. She had been broken further when Naruto had been unable to bring him back when he and the others had gone after Sasuke and had come back so injured.

It had helped push her to train harder so that she could help instead of standing on the sidelines. But after those meetings with Sasuke when they were fifteen, she had felt more pain at not being able to get him to come back and by the way he had treated them. She knew and understood his reasons why, but it still hurt. So she had laid her feelings to rest and focused on him as a lost companion while she watched over and protected Nartuo from those bastards of Akatsuki. She was certain she was over him now and felt only the fondness of an old companion.

Whatever fluttering feelings she had inside when he had given the barest of smiles earlier was just hormones. She was a medic-nin and knew more then anyone would want to know about the body and its processes. She was just reacting as any healthy young kunoichi would have to a smile from an attractive male. No matter what her feelings were now, she could no more deny that Sasuke was still very attractive as she could the color of her own hair.

"A vast improvement over the dobe's place," was the only response she got, but after her fangirling years and the time spent as his teammate she knew to interpret that to mean he liked her place. And it was a vast improvement over the Kyuubi's apartment which looked like a disaster zone most of the time unless she or Hinata went over there to clean it up for him.

"So are we having ramen for dinner," Naruto demanded, making her roll her eyes in exasperation. How anyone could eat as much ramen as he did and not get tired of it was beyond her. There was just so many times she could eat ramen or any single thing before she wanted some variety in her diet.

"No, we're having udon," she replied, ignoring the grumblings of the blonde as she led the way into the kitchen. She dished some of the noodles and soup into bowls and placed them on the table as the men got comfortable. "Stop complaining. At least I made a noodle dish. You know Naruto, it would do you wonders if you ate something besides ramen for a change. It can't be that healthy to eat it so much."

"That's impossible," Naruto retorted, already slurping away at his noodles. It might not have been ramen, but Sakura's udon rated high among his favorite dishes. He pretended to be absorbed in his food as he watched Sakura sit down next to Sasuke. Her kitchen table sat four, two settings on one side and one on the other. As soon as he had seen that he made sure to beat Sasuke so she could sit next to him. Sakura may have said before that she didn't care for the Uchiha as anything more then a friend and a companion, but the Kyuubi doubted that. He may have not been a genius like Shikamaru or Neji, but over the years he had learned how to understand the feelings of those dear to him.

Sakura may have tried to forget the past and her feelings, but Naruto had not. He had remembered how strong her feelings had been in the past and the years that followed after he had left. It was only the last five or six years that she had said begun to say that her feelings had become platonic for the Uchiha. There was no way a love that had burned inside her could have faded away into the gentle flame of a friend's love. He knew how he felt about Hinata now and he knew that there was no way he could ever love her in any other way then he did now, so there was no way Sakura could love Sasuke any differently in the past.

One thing he shared with his pink-haired best friend was the same fiery and passionate nature, so it was logical to assume she would love in the same way he would too. Which was why he was determined to make her realize this and nudge her and Sasuke in the right direction. Of course, this was probably something that he probably shouldn't do alone. He sometimes had bad luck with matchmaking people, like that time with Gaara and Matsuri…. well let's just say if Shikmaru and Temari hadn't stepped in, there wouldn't be no romance between them now or one Kazekage founding himself currently working up the nerve to ask his girlfriend to marry him.

But it seemed to him he'd have to put some effort on his own now since no one seemed inclined to say anything. He just chalked it up to the fact that the two were sitting next to each other and were experiencing some sexual tension. He knew he sure did when he was next to Hinata at Ichiraku's and she'd give him that little smile with her the occasional blush and his temperature rose a few notches along with other parts of him.

And while he no longer had a crush on Sakura and loved Hinata, he was still a male and there was nothing wrong with his eyesight; Sakura was an attractive young woman. She was a favorite topic among the men when they got together and Naruto often had to bust a few heads when their talk got disrespectful of one his favorite kunoichi. It wouldn't be surprising if Sasuke was noticing this fact.

He had no idea how right he was.

Sasuke found himself distracted by the scent of lavender coming from Sakura as well as the heat from her body sitting next to his. She had really changed a lot physically since they were kids and when he had last seen her. She had let her hair grow out again, but kept it restrained in a braid. He had noticed it earlier, and more so now with her sitting next to him, that she had developed the feminine curves that she had lacked when they were younger. If he had recalled correctly, she hadn't had much in the way of those when they had ran into each other at seventeen, but that wasn't the case now. However her breasts were small compared to Ino's or Godaime Hokage's, but anyone would be considered small compared to those two particular kunoichi.

He had returned to Konoha to rebuild his clan and its honor. He had returned to rise up in the shinobi ranks like he was meant to. He had returned to the people that had reached through his loneliness and pain to give him some happiness and light in the darkness that consumed his soul. To those people who snuck into his heart when he wasn't paying attention and became his important and precious companions that he would have died for. The very same people that he had had to run away from because he was afraid they'd make him weak and unable to avenge the important people that had come before them.

He had not returned expecting that in the first day he would begin to experience lust towards one of those important people. But there was no denying that he didn't feel it and that it wasn't caused by Sakura. It wasn't the first time he felt his baser nature rise up in reaction to a woman. Just the first time that it was towards Sakura. Because with her, he had always felt himself become a bit softer and more protective. Not the sort of emotions to evoke lust and they had been too young for that sort of thing to be really considered back then, although Naruto seemed to have been the exception to that rule.

In the past, when he felt a sexual attraction for a woman he would usually act upon it and find a way to have the woman who had caused the lust or find another willing body. It had all, for the most part, been rather impersonal. One of the many rules of a ninja was not allowing yourself to be distracted; you either trained yourself to ignore it or found a way to get rid of it. In the case of his hormones, he had sought a way to sate himself.

But Sakura wasn't just some random woman that he could slack his lust off of. She was one of his important people and he would sooner cut out his heart then hurt her... Again. He didn't know how she felt about him, although he had noticed her behavior was more reserved and calmer around him then she had once been; but regardless of what she felt for him, the point was that he didn't want to hurt her. And while he didn't know the extent of his feelings or what they were completely, he knew he cared about her and didn't want to screw up what they shared which he realized had become more then a bit fragile over the years.

"Good udon," Naruto said, trying to break the silence. Damn it, what else could he say? Why had it been easier for him and Sasuke to fall back into their old habits? He'd have to talk to Shikamaru about that one.

"Hn."

Naruto glared at the dark-haired man. Typical Sasuke response. You'd think he would have learned some new words along with all those new jutsus. "Sakura-chan makes the best udon in all of Konoha. Probably out of all the all the Hidden Villages."

"Mighty high praise coming from the ramen lover," Sakura said, amused but a little confused by the Kyuubi's sudden enthusiastic praise. "But I don't think it's the best of all the HiddenVillages. I'll just settle for Konoha."

"Don't be modest. You're a great cook. None of the other kunoichi can cook like you can. Man, Ino nearly killed us in that last mission." In another apartment of Konoha, said kunoichi sneezed. "I mean, I couldn't even recognize what it could be. Tenten and Hinata aren't too bad though. Speaking of Hinata, I think she was thinking about asking you for some lessons."

"Lessons, eh?" Sakura repeated, a teasing glint in her eyes. Naruto silently cheered seeing that she was beginning to relax more in Sasuke's presence which only proved his point she still has some feelings hidden inside for him. Otherwise why would she be so tense? "Now would these lessons have anything to do with possible wedding bells?"

"Why would Hinata want to marry that dobe," Sasuke said, also noticing the difference in the kunoichi. They were starting to settle back into the team they used to be. It was slow, at least between him and her, but it was happening. "I would think she had better taste then that."

"What's that supposed to mean, teme," Naruto demanded. "Hinata has perfectly good taste. Besides, by marrying me she'll be the wife of the future Rokudaime Hokage."

"Don't tell me you're still harping about that, dobe." While he may have picked at Naruto, Sasuke actually did believe that the Kyuubi would accomplish his goal. He had that personality to make people believe in him and considering he had approval from Sandaime and Godaime as well as his close friendship with Gaara, Naruto had a pretty good chance of making his dream into reality. That still wasn't going to stop Sasuke from picking at him about him. It would only drive the blonde shinobi to work harder to reach for his dream.

"I will be Rokudaime," retorted, banging his fist against the table. Luckily Sakura had bought a nice solid table that wouldn't break under such circumstances. She knew what kind of friends she had. She just had to remember to control her temper because that really would break the table. "So you better hurry and get accepted by everybody, teme, because you're going to be one of my right-hand men."

Sasuke didn't know how to reply to that. Their friendship had always been one rife with rivalry despite the undertones of brotherhood and 'I'd-die-to-protect-you' stuff. It wasn't often that either, even Naruto, would voice something like what the blond just had. Naruto seemed to realize that his words had taken the light-hearted feeling in the room and deepened it into something else, since his face begin to redden a bit and look flustered.

"Great meal, Sakura-chan. I'm done so I'm claiming dibs on the first shower. You two can clean up." The Kyuubi rushed out of the room before the other two could respond or the pink-haired kunoichi could yank him back to insist he help with the dishes. He knew very well Sakura's rule about dinner. She cooked, everyone else cleaned.

"Let the dobe go," Sasuke said, standing up and beginning to clean the table. He flashed her one of his rare smiles; this one she recognized as being used when Naruto had just done something that he would realize too late was a mistake. "He'll realize soon enough that it wasn't a bright idea to take a shower while we're doing the dishes."

The two worked together in harmony clearing the table and then without having to say a word to the other, Sakura washed the dishes while Sasuke dried them. They had done this often enough on missions when they were younger. Kakashi always seemed to manage to slip away when it came time to clean up and Naruto would often fall asleep after eating. It was so natural and automatic to work in unison that it allowed Sakura's mind to wander, all though in the past her thoughts centered upon how to make Sasuke notice her more in a better light.

Now her thoughts, while still thinking about Sasuke, were more along the lines of how to help him get the Uchiha district repaired so it no longer resembled a ghost town and how to get the rest of the village to accept him. She knew that Team Gai and the members of the Rookie Nine would be more likely to accept him back first. Then again they might also be the hardest group to win over since his leaving could be seen as betrayal of the camaraderie they had all once shared. It was hard to say and the villagers would be hard to win over too, regardless of whether they were shinobi or civilians.

A cup slipped from her hand into the soapy water, causing some of it splash up at her and Sasuke. "Hn," was the male's reaction and she snuck a glance at to see him if he was annoyed by the little accident. She received one of the patented Uchiha glares. Yep, he was annoyed. Oh, well he'd just have to deal. She continued to wash and then shrieked when an icy spray of water hit her in the face.

"Sasuke-kun," she snarled, the nostalgic moment making her tack the '-kun' at the end of his name. She used the back of her arm to wipe the water from her face, jade green eyes promising retribution. She had splashed him on accident; that was no reason to take the hose and spray her in the face on purpose. But she couldn't help feeling a bit happy; a playful Sasuke was so rare. With everything that had happened, she would have thought it would have been even rarer still.

"You're going to pay for that!" She flung soapsuds at him, although it was a pointless cause since he had always been rather good at dodging things. And he did have that hose still in his hand. He raised it again and she moved to duck, but slipped on the water that had dripped onto the floor.

Sasuke immediately reached out to grab a hold of her, but fates would have it that he lost his balance too. They both hit the tile floor with pained grunts, the more pained one coming from Sakura who was on the bottom. She was definitely going to be forming some bruises from this.

"You know this wouldn't have happened if you hadn't splashed me," Sasuke said, which in Sasuke speak was about as close to an apology as she'd get at the moment. He wasn't the type to say 'sorry' or 'thank you' often since it was considered weak and he didn't like being in the wrong. He only said those words when it was something rather serious.

"It was an accident. Spraying me in the face was deliberate act of war," she retorted, glaring at him before it hit her how close his face actually was to hers. The glare faded and she watched as realization sank into his eyes as well. Sasuke found he was having a harder time ignoring his hormones with Sakura's body beneath his. And then there was that expression of hers, soft and a bit unsure and hesitant. It brought out a protective urge in him for her that warred with the more primal side.

They stared at each other, neither quite sure of what to do or how address the tension that had increased the room. Something stirred inside the kunoichi as she stared into the dark eyes of the first male she had loved that hadn't been her father.

'_I don't feel that way anymore about,'_ she told herself.

'_Keep telling yourself that, babe,' _Inner Sakura retorted. _'Ignoring facts isn't going to help you.'_

'_Shut up,'_ she snarled at the other personality. Since she had become more confident and assertive in her life, Inner Sakura had become quieter over the years but still piped up every now in then with her two cents which was often a hard pill to swallow. Thankfully the inner voice remained silent, although it was doubtful that it would continue to keep its mouth shut about this particular topic for long.

The magnetism between the two comrades drew them to each other and it seemed that Sasuke's face was becoming closer to hers. He wasn't…. was he….

RING! RING!

Their faces moved away from each other, startled by the phone in the living room. Sasuke got up and helped her stand up, although she couldn't quite meet his eyes and her cheeks were a bit flushed. She hurried into the living room, as he mentally scolded himself. He could have ruined their friendship if had acted on instinct and hormones. Until he knew exactly what his feelings were for his teammate now, he needed to control himself better. A moment of lust was not worth a friendship for life.

He moved to stand in the doorway into the living room and watched her from the shadows as she picked up the phone sounding a bit breathless, to him, with her greeting. His eyes narrowed as he watched as her expression become hard and her tone become frosty. Wanting to know what had caused the change, he moved a bit closer so he could hear her side of the conversation.

"Hello Otou-san….Yes, he's returned… No, Tsunade-shishou allowed him to return… There are certain restrictions and obligations that he has to fulfill, but I don't think that will really be a problem…. No, I can't do that. Shishou assigned me and Naruto to watch over him…."

Her voice seemed to get colder with each response as whatever her father had said seemed to upset her more and more. He didn't know exactly what her relationship was with her father, but he found that her responses said a lot. Sakura had always been the type with a hot temper. For her to be so cool and distant was unlike the girl he knew.

"No, I will not," Sakura snarled into the phone, her grip on it becoming visibly tighter and he heard a crack as if something was being crushed under some pressure. "He was, no correction, still is my teammate. I will not turn my back on him….. Then we have nothing further to say to each other."

Surprisingly, Sakura placed the phone back gently on its base. There was tenseness in her stance and her hands were clenched into fists. Sasuke was unsure of what to do but finally decided to see if he could get her to talk. He remembered his mother always saying it was better to talk things out with your friends when family gave you trouble.

"Sakura?"

She turned her head and looked at him. There were so many emotions fighting for dominance in her eyes. Anger… determination… resignation … pain… It was that last one that got to him. Once she and Naruto had snuck themselves past his shields, it had become intolerable to him for either of them to feel any pain. But it had always been Sakura's emotional pain that had always unnerved him the most and he had tried to protect her from it. Leaving had been that much harder when Sakura had tried to stop him, but he had had to break the bonds to fulfill his goal. But it still hadn't sit well that he had hurt her, nor did it sit well that she was in pain now. He was beginning to develop a rapid dislike for her father.

"All done," Naruto declared, walking into the room in his PJs and noticing belatedly a change in the atmosphere. "Sakura-chan?"

"I'm beat," Sakura said, forcing a smile. "You can help Sasuke-kun finish cleaning up the kitchen. Good night." The kunoichi then turned and fled to her bedroom as both men watched. Naruto stared at the closed bedroom door for a few moments, concern evident in his eyes.

"What happened, Sasuke?"

* * *

_**Final Thought from Sasuke:**_

_That dobe's an ANBU? Is the world ending?_

* * *

_**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**_

_Sorry for the long wait on this story. My first love is Sailor Moon and by the number of Sailor Moon fics I have, it's clear where my muse likes to wander which is increased by the new anime out. I sincerely hope this chapter makes up for the long wait._

_I want to thank everyone who took the time to review or favorited this story in some way. It is greatly appreciated and brought a smile to my day. =)_

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_**Disclaimer:**__ I do not claim any rights to Naruto or the characters associated with the anime/manga. Those rights belong to Kishimoto Masashi and anyone else he says has rights to it._


	3. A Day of Missions

_**Chapter Two: A Day of Missions**_

"Hmmm…" Naruto grunted, his arms crossed and a serious expression on his face. The face was older, but the expression upon his best friend's face made Sasuke think back to the first part of their Chuunin Exam when Naruto had pretended to understand Morino Ibiki's reasoning behind his test. He wondered if this situation was similar to that one, but then again Naruto had continued being Sakura's teammate long after he had left and knew things that he didn't.

"Yep, that explains everything now." Naruto said once Sasuke has finished telling him what he had heard. "Sakura and her old man have never really gotten along very well. The man's bitter. He's never really gotten over the fact that he had to give up being a shinobi because of that injury that left him with a limp. It's a damn shame that Tsunade-baachan wasn't around when it happened because she could have probably fixed it, but it's been so long that there's no fixing it. In any case, Haruno Hisoka planned on having a son to fulfill his dreams, but after Sakura was born, her mom couldn't have any more kids. At least not without risking her life."

"So he's disappointed with Sakura because she couldn't be the son he wanted," Sasuke said, glancing at Sakura's closed bedroom door. He could understand that feeling of not being good enough in the eyes of one's father. Uchiha Fugaku had been focused mainly on Itachi and had only begun to notice his younger son when it became apparent then the elder had started to rebel. "And Sakura wasn't much of a ninja when we first left the Academy. But she's ANBU now. He should be proud of her accomplishments."

"If only that was the case. The man's a hard ass. Never pleased or satisfied with anything Sakura-chan does. He was happy enough with her when she made Chunin, at least that's what Ino told me. I was training, so I didn't see it. But Ino says he was pretty mellow for a while after that and then I came back." There was a tightening in the blonde's expression as he paused. "Her father doesn't care too much for me. Hell, he hates me because of the Kyuubi and because I'm doing what he'll never be able to do. I think part of the reason why Sakura-chan couldn't stand me when we were younger was because of him. He's a bastard most of the time, but she cares about him and wants to please him."

"Sakura likes to please those she cares about," Sasuke said, causing the Kyuubi to look at him surprise. They had been a team for such a short time together and Sasuke had been gone for so long that he hadn't thought the Uchiha would have picked up on that part of their teammate's personality.

"Yeah, she does. But once she got to know me she stopped paying attention to his opinion about me anymore. I figure it pissed him off and he gave her some grief over it. But she wouldn't give up our friendship because he didn't think I was good for her reputation and career as a shinobi. She stood by me, even though I knew things were tense for her at home. She was rarely home because of it. Always on some mission, at the hospital, or working for Tsunade-baachan. A lot of times she would make excuses to spend the night at Ino's or one of the other girls to avoid going home to that tension. Hell, she even spent some nights at my place"

Sasuke sent Naruto a sharp look at the comment, which the blonde just brushed off. "Nothing happened. Sakura-chan's like a sister to me. Sure, I had a crush on her when we were kids and she is really pretty, but I know it really wouldn't work between us. Besides, she always had a thing for you anyways."

"That's doubtful,' Sasuke said. "Her behavior towards me now is nothing like when we were younger. She seems almost indifferent to me."

"Teme, what are you dense," Nartuo complained. "That was when we were kids. Sakura-chan's no longer a girl anymore. She's a woman and women go about showing their affection differently then when they're girls. Besides, I think she's under the delusion that she doesn't like you that way anymore."

"And what makes you so sure," the other man countered.

"Why do you care so much that she might still care for you," the Kyuubi retorted, and was rewarded when his companion had no comeback except for his customary 'hn' which could convey a whole variety of things. But in this case, Naruto was pretty sure that was the only response that the other man could make to something he probably wasn't sure about himself. When it came to feelings, Naruto really was more advanced than his best friend and 'brother'. They had both had difficult pasts, but Naruto had not allowed his past to stunt his emotional development as it had for some of his friends.

"Sakura-chan, I think was more hurt then she let on when you left," Naruto said quietly, a quick check at Sakura's chakra telling him that the pink-haired kunoichi was sleeping, although he didn't think it the calm and relaxing sleep. He knew from past experience, that Sakura's sleeping patterns after an argument with her father were erratic as if she still continued to fight the man in sleep. "Didn't help things much the few times we found you and the way you acted. A woman's heart has to take some pounding when the man she cares for tries to kill her a few times."

The Kyuubi shot a pointed look at the Uchiha, whose expression remained unchanged in response to the words and the look. _'Damn teme,'_ thought the blond. _'Not a single slip. Probably doesn't even react when he's having sex.'_ And that was a thought that Naruto wanted to think too deeply about. There were just some things in life a man didn't need to know or think about it, no matter how perverted he was naturally or by osmosis through his time with his godfather.

"She kept a smile on her face and kept on training, but I think that was more for my sake and Kakashi-sensei. Sometimes I'd catch this sad look in her eyes when she thought no one was looking and someone had mentioned your name. Hinata-chan thinks that Sakura took her feelings and locked them away in a box in her heart so they wouldn't hurt as much. And with the way her mind works, she's probably talked herself into believing that her feelings are purely platonic now. Maybe they are, but either way if you want her love you're going to have to work for it this time, Sasuke. She's just not going to give it to you like she did before."

The blond paused and met the eyes of the other man. There seemed to be a clash of wills as blue eyes stared hard into the black eyes of his best friend. There was a hint of tension in the room, or the hint of a future battle.

"But you better be sure that you want Sakura's love, Sasuke. Because Sakura is one of the three women living in this world that I love. I don't care if you're my best friend. I'll beat the shit out of you if you ever hurt her again. Sakura deserves to have everything she dreams of, so make sure that you know what you want before you do something."

Sasuke didn't show any visual reaction; to do so would mean that he was actually starting to consider having something with Sakura other than friendship they once had and he wasn't ready to admit as much when he wasn't quite sure himself. He wasn't surprised by his friend's words. He understood the other man well enough to know how much friends meant to the blond and the extents the Kyuubi would go for those dear to his heart. Team Seven was one of the first people to accept him and so he cherished each member of that team. His bond with them had deepened with each of their missions, even the ridiculously easy ones, and they had become a family. It was one of the driving forces that had pushed Naruto to keep trying to bring him back to Konoha before he was ready to.

He had just never realized how much the team had meant to Sakura as well. He had no clue what her relationship with her mother was, but with what Naruto had told him about her home life then it was very likely that she had needed the team and the family they had created just as much as the other members had needed it for their own reasons.

It made him rethink the night he left and the desperation that had been evident in the pink-haired kunoichi's eyes. He had dismissed it then as nothing more than a fangirl's devotion to keeping her idol close, although deep inside he had known better. He had known she had wanted to make him stay because she cared and worried about him. Because she had really loved him. It was just now he realized that she might also have been driven by her need to keep the small family, that she had formed with her team, together.

"Better go to sleep," Naruto said. "It's late. And Tsunade-baachan will probably assign us with all the shit she can't dump on any of the new Genin who have a team leader smart enough to say no."

* * *

Naruto's prediction was right on the mark. A little too on the mark, in fact. When the leaders of the new Genin teams heard that Uchiha Sasuke was back again, they had decided to request the day off to train their students for the upcoming Chuunin exam. Their students would need it, especially if any had the misfortune to be paired up with Sasuke in the one-on-one battle portion of the exam.

So all the D-rank missions of the day were theirs. Once he heard that, Naruto had tried to sneak away, but Sakura, anticipating the Kyuubi's movements, had grabbed him by the shirt before he could take off. It was with great amusement that the Uchiha fell behind the two as Sakura dragged Naruto out of the Hokage's office, while he alternated from pouting to explaining that he had merely been getting a head start on the work.

Most of the assignments were fairly easy although quite tedious. It was mind-blowing to consider how many chores and errands that the citizens of Konohagakure had passed off to be taken care of the Genin of the village. While Sakura reasoned that it only seemed like it was a lot because they were taking all of the D-rank missions that had came in for that day and most of these were usually split among the Genin teams, it was still daunting. In fact, as they finished what had to be their fifth painting job that day, she was beginning to think that people were just downright lazy. It was just lucky for them that they all had skills that far-surpassed any Genin team that allowed them to go through many of the jobs quickly and with ease.

And then they came to their final mission of the day that brought back great memories to all three. The reason being was this particular mission was the first one they had completed together as a team. The only difference now was they were older and the feline they were after was the son of the cat they had been ordered to capture on their first mission. Toki, like his mother Tora, didn't particularly care to be owned by Madam Shijimi, the Fire Daimyo's wife since age hadn't made the woman any less over-nauseatingly affectionate as she had been with Tora. And no male tom would stick around with an owner who insisted on forcing him to wear a pink tutu cat costume.

Because capturing the cat was a D-rank mission that was regulated to Genin and Sasuke was still legally one even if his strength and abilities surpassed the average Genin by a million, it was supposed to be his task to capture the task while Sakura and Naruto were only to assist by helping him to corner the cat. However, with a few careful well-chosen words, Sasuke was able to rile up the blond in a way that made Naruto see the mission as a competition to see who would catch the catch first because regardless of their legal rank, it would determine who the better ninja was.

Naruto, of course, couldn't resist a challenge as Sasuke had known. And Naruto being Naruto hadn't realized that Sasuke hadn't been trying as hard as he should have to catch Toki. That is not until after he had captured Toki and gotten all scratched up by the cat's claws before they got the demon feline into the cat carrier.

"Ow ow ow," Naruto whimpered, looking rather pathetic with scratches all over his face and arms, as Sakura wiped at the scratches with some alcohol wipes to disinfect them. "That hurts Sakura-chan."

"Suck it up, Naruto," she retorted, as she continued her task with the same sort of meticulousness that was characteristic of her. "Who knows what that cat got into while he was running around Konoha? I don't want them to heal without being properly cleaned." Since the Kyuubi inside of Naruto gave him an enhanced and accelerated healing factor, it would be a matter of minutes before the scratches closed up with whatever germs had gotten into them.

"But it hurts," whined the blond.

"Honestly, are you sure you're even ANBU," she hissed at him, since the identity of those who wore the masks was supposed to remain a secret to those outside of the Hokage's elite shinobi. The only reason why Sasuke was even allowed to know that she and the Kyuubi were part of the group was because Tsunade had correctly guessed that Naruto would be unable to hide that fact from the Uchiha. In some way or another Naruto would have given himself away and then Sakura. It still surprised her that the only other person he had spilled the beans too was Hinata and Iruka-sensei. "You're going to wind up with worse wounds on those missions. Mou, stop being a baby."

Naruto pouted, but managed to refrain from complaining anymore, not that it stopped him from making exaggerated faces of pain. It was inevitable that the humor in the situation would get to the kunoichi and the corners of her lips twitched as she tried to refrain from smiling. Seeing this, the Kyuubi hammed it up even more until finally she gave up, not only smiling, but started to laugh. Even the Uchiha found he couldn't remain unaffected by the situation, not with the baka Naruto's antics and the air filled with Sakura's laughter; he didn't smile or laugh, yet when his teammates glanced at him they noted that his eyes seem gentler somehow.

"SAAAAAAKUUUUUURAAAAAA-SEEEEEEENSEEEEEEEI!"

The moment was shattered. Sakura sighed and muttered something about Naruto's bad influence as Sasuke turned towards the direction of where the yelling had come from. He saw a young girl, walking between another girl on her right and guy on her left, waving wildly at them as if her yelling had gotten their attention. All three looked to be no older then about eleven. It was clear by the way they moved together that they were team and going by what the yeller had been hollering, that they were Sakura's team.

"Mou, Sakura-sensei," said the yeller again, as she stood in front of them with her hands on her hips. "You said you'd be done by two and it's almost four. I wanna train!"

"I said probably, Rin-chan," Sakura replied, rising to her feet and reaching out to ruffle the girl's head affectionately. "I didn't think it would take that long to complete all of today's D-rank missions, but Toki's gotten a lot sneakier since you guys chased him down last month. Now remember your manners and introduce yourself to Uchiha-san."

"I hate cats," muttered the yeller. Now that she was closer, the Uchiha could see the bright red fang markings on her cheek that made her identifiable as a kunoichi of the Inuzuka clan. She looked similar to Kiba's sister, Hana, at least in choice of hairstyle; the only real differences were that this kunoichi had messy bangs and two tendrils of hair that framed her face. Like most of the Inuzuka clan, she had dark eyes, in her case black, which had the same kind of wicked glint in them that Kiba was known for. Her height, he guessed, was average for a girl her age; she really didn't look much bigger than Sakura had been at twelve. She wore a sleeveless purple shirt that stopped just above her knees and black capris with the black sandals shinobi wore (well until the kunoich got older and started wearing the heeled sandals). She wore her hitai-ate, which instead of the customary black, was a matching purple to her shirt, around her neck like the Hyuuga heiress tended to wear hers. Peering behind her legs was not one, but two black puppies that were indistinguishable except that one had one white front paw.

"I'm Inuzuka Rin," the yeller said, pointing to first to the one with a white paw and then the other as she introduced her ninken, "and these two are Yorumaru and Kuroi. I plan to be a Jounin by the time I'm 16. Which means" she shot Sakura another look, "that I need to train a lot so I can pass the Chuunin exams the first time around."

"Rin," Sakura said, a warning tone in her voice.

"I'm just saying…"

"Keep it up and Sakura-sensei's going to make you do duck walks or clean Naruto_**-**_onii-san's apartment again, Rin-chan," said the other female Genin, who seemed to mutter under her breath something about preferring the duck walks as punishment. She smiled up at Sasuke, completely unfazed by the man's intimidating demeanor, which reminded him of a younger Sakura who had tagged after him no matter how much he ignored her or those rare moments when he lost control and let his temper slip out. "I'm Hino Kyoko. You're a Sharingan user like Kaskashi-sensai right? That's so cool. I wish I could have the Sharingan too. It'd make it easier to learn jutsus."

Sasuke didn't know quite how to respond to the young girl's chatter, so all she got was a 'hn' not that she seemed to let that deter her from staring at him with what could only be called a small case of hero worship. Clearly having more than one Sharingan eye made him worthy of idol worship to her.

Unlike Rin, Kyoko was short and if it wasn't for the fact that she was clearly starting to make the change into girl into woman, one would mistake her as being actually younger than her age from a distance. Once you saw her face, there was no mistaking her as being a younger child. There was a level of maturity in those eyes that came up with living and although some children could get that look at a younger age (he had), in most cases it took time. Out of the three, she had the most vibrant hair which was a rich dark red, the kind of red of a good wine and was worn in two long pigtails that bounced as she talked and gestured. Her eyes were a shade of green that were a shade or two darker than Sakura's. She wore a short-sleeved shirt that matched the color of the hair paired with black shorts and a black vest that stopped mid chest. Her hitai-ate was also red and worn like a belt around her waist.

Sasuke turned to the final Genin in Sakura's team and the only boy. Black eyes clashed with a milky white; Sakura had a Hyuuga on her team and from the look in the boy's eyes this Hyuuga didn't care for the Uchiha. Not that was a big deal; Neji had never cared much for Sasuke either. However while Neji had been indifferent for the most part or saw Sasuke as a rival, this kid's eyes were downright hostile.

"Yuki-kun," Sakura prompted.

"Hyuuga Yukito," the boy said, his tone empty although his eyes burned hot. For whatever reason the kid had it in for Sasuke in a way beyond Neji had even though he did look sorta like the Hyuuga prodigy that the Uchiha had known. The only difference was that Yukito's hair was jet black. The kid even dressed like Neji which made Sasuke wonder how close a blood tie there was between the two.

"And that's Team Two," said Naruto, "otherwise known as Team Sakura and the best shinobi that graduated the academy last year." The way he was boasting, you'd think that the three were his students and not Sakura's.

"And where's your team dobe," he asked, arching an eyebrow at the blond.

"I'm too important to be teaching some kids right now," Naruto retorted.

"What he means is the Godaime doesn't think he's ready for the responsibility," piped up Rin. "Cause he can't keep his apartment clean by himself and he's killed every plant that Sakura-sensei's ever gave him."

"Riiiiiin," cried Naruto, his voice almost whining. "That's not true. I'm not teaching because they need my strength and skills to help protect Konoha. Right Kyoko-chan? Yukito?"

"You still kill your plants," was Kyoko's response which was neither a yes or no. The child clearly had a knack for avoiding taking sides when she didn't want to.

"Hinata-onee-san and Neji-onii-san told me I should never lie"

Naruto pouted at the lack of support to his claims and then leaned down towards the two pups. "You two believe me don't you?" The pups stared at him for a moment, tails wagging. They then glanced at each other and then in unison they lifted a paw to cover their eyes. It was apparent that even the pups doubted him.

* * *

_**Final Thought from Tsunade:**_

_Honestly Naruto, how hard is it to keep a simple plant alive?_

* * *

_**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**_

_Sorry for the long w_

* * *

_ait on this story. My first love is Sailor Moon and by the number of Sailor Moon fics I have, it's clear where my muse likes to wander which is increased by the new anime out. I sincerely hope this chapter makes up for the long wait. _

_I'd also like to invite anyone over the age of 18, to Silver Millennium. It's a Sailor Moon fandom community for adults, however we cater to those with other obsessions like Naruto, so you're welcome to join and talk about Naruto with other adults and not be hampered by censoring yourself from thinking and speaking like an adult on there. =)_

_I want to thank everyone who took the time to review or favorited this story in some way. It is greatly appreciated and brought a smile to my day. =)_

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_**Disclaimer:**__ I do not claim any rights to Naruto or the characters associated with the anime/manga. Those rights belong to Kishimoto Masashi and anyone else he says has rights to it._


	4. Another Bell Test

_**Chapter Three: Another Bell Test**_

A promise was a promise, so once Sakura had finished cleaning the cat scratches on Naruto, she told her team that they would go train at Training Ground #3, a place that held a great deal of significance and meaning to her besides a place to train. It was there that she, Sasuke and Naruto had first worked together as a team, which had allowed them to pass Kakashi-sensei's test; the one test that no one before had ever passed before and to this day had yet to pass again.

Kakashi-sensei had insisted that he didn't want to teach anymore. The kunoichi had a feeling that her former sensei had been affected by the past as much as any of them. It couldn't be easy knowing that you had failed to keep one student from running off and getting lost to the darkness in his soul. And then to have the other two move on with other teachers… well with Naruto, it had been understandable change. The Kyuubi needed to be away from the village at that time with Akatsuki out to capture him; it had been in his best interest and Konoha's. Then one had to consider the fact that the late pervert had been Naruto's godfather and the man who had trained Namikaze Minato, Naruto's father.

And then there had been her. In all honesty, when she thought back on it, Kakashi-sensei just hadn't the time to really train her properly. She had been the light-weight of the team in the beginning, the one with skills a little better then a civilian but still not good enough to be unprotected. With Naruto and Sasuke who both needed so much attention for different reasons, there really hadn't been much time left over for him to train her. Besides, she felt that he really didn't know how to handle girls either and that if perhaps she had been a weak boy, it might have been easier on him. Still she knew that it had probably hurt his feelings that she sought another teacher, but he had never spoke of and she knew he never would. Kakashi-sensei cared about his students (former students now) and he wanted what was best for them.

In any case, Team 7 AKA Team Kakashi had been the only ones to pass Hatake Kakashi's bell test and be accepted as Genins on the first try without being sent back for another year at the Academy. And despite repeatedly saying that he no longer wanted to teach and prefer going on missions (hell Kakashi-sensei had returned to being ANBU again to prove his point), Tsunade-shishou ordered the Academy to keep sending new graduated Genin teams to him. Sakura could understand her shishou's reasoning. Kakashi-sensei was one of the best ninja in Konoha and had he been the type to want power, he could have easily been Hokage and the only three students he had ever accepted had all gone on to be formidable ninjas in their own way. Konoha needed more great ninjas and it seemed that Hatake Kakashi knew how to pick and chose those ninjas.

And then nearly seven months earlier, Sakura had received a scroll informing her to meet in Classroom 3-A in the Academy to meet her team. Knowing Tsunade as she did, she understood that it was an honor, as much as a headache to teach a team, because it meant that she was deemed worthy to help shape a new generation of Konoha-nin. However, like her former sensei, Sakura was a firm believer of teamwork and building close bonds with one's teammates was important to successfully able to complete their missions; yet she also believed that a shinobi that would turn their back on their teammate to complete a mission was scum. In the words of Hatake Kakashi, "In the ninja world, those who break the rules are trash, that's true, but those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash."

Thus the new Team 2 had been faced with the bell test. At first it had seemed like that all three would have failed. Yukito was like most Hyuuga men, the stoic and solitary type who were confident in their own abilities to handle any situation. Rin and Kyoko had some kind of rivalry going on during the Academy which fell on the rival meter somewhere between Sakura' rivalry with Ino and the one between Naruto and Sasuke. Rin also had the cockiness and crazy confidence of the Inuzuka clan, while Kyoko had the defiance of being an "outsider" or first generation ninja. Yet somehow despite it all, the three had come together. They hadn't gotten the bells from her, but they had proven that they could be a team so she had passed them.

"Okay now-" Sakura began to speak before she was interrupted.

"SAAAAAAAAAAAAAKUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURAAAAAAAAAA-CHAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!"

Grimacing, Sakura turned to see Naruto approaching with Sasuke following the blond. She had left the two of them to go do whatever so she could train her team, but it seemed that Naruto wanted to watch the training. As Sasuke's probation demanded that he be in the company of either her or Naruto, he had no choice but to follow Naruto here. Yet glancing at the Uchiha, Sakura got the feeling that he didn't particularly mind having to watch a bunch of Genin train.

"Sakrura-sensei?"

She turned back and smiled back at her students. "Okay as I was saying, you guys are really going to have do some serious training if you want to be ready to pass the Chuunin Exams in two months."

"What's so different about the exam now then it was last week," Rin demanded to know. They had been discussing the Chuunin Exams for the past few weeks since Sakura had finally deemed them ready to take the exams. This would be the second time the test the come around since they had graduated from the Academy. The first time it had popped up, they had less then three months under their belt as Genin and Sakura had refused to nominate any of them take it, stating that they were still too wet behind the ears, which all three had disagreed in their own particular fashion.

They had all been disappointed that they'd have to wait another six months for the exams to occur once more. Yet wait they did and now the exam was fast-approaching and last week their beloved sensei thought they were doing great and had a good chance to pass the test and now today she was telling them that they needed to train even harder. Not that any of them had a problem with that, but that didn't mean they didn't want to know the reason behind it any less.

"All three of you know the story of my original team, correct," Sakura questioned them. The girls nodded their heads while Yukito merely gave his sensei a look. Having spent a great deal of her life with males like her only male student, the kunoichi was well-versed in their ways of non-verbal communication and knew that it was Yuki's version of nodding his head. "Well since my teammate Sasuke is back," she jerked her head towards the man in question, "and needs to earn his place back in the village. One of the things that the Hokage wants him to do is to earn the rank that reflects his skills and abilities as well as what he would have been if hadn't left the village. In other words, he's taking the Chuunin Exams with you."

She waited for the implications of her words to sink into their heads. It didn't take long as the three were well-versed at connecting the dots under tutelage.

"We have to compete against someone who has the Sharingan," Kyoko moaned, shooting her 'hero' a look of despair. It was one thing to be in awe of meeting someone who possessed the Sharingan; it was quite a different story to find out you'd be competing against them. "But that's not fair. He's _**OLD**_! Like _**ANCIENT OLD**_! He probably knows hundreds of thousands of jutsus like Kakashi-sensei!"

"It will not be long until others hear about this," Yuki said, skipping straight to the point of the main reason they needed to increase their training. "Everyone will be training even harder just to be able to have a fair chance against _him._" The Hyuuga boy shot a glare at Sasuke; for whatever reason he didn't like Sasuke to begin with, his dislike had only increased with the latest news.

"We're fucked," Rin said, plopping down to sit on the ground. Yorumaru and Kuroi leaned against her from opposite sides and rubbing their heads against her arms in a show of comfort.

"RIN," Sakura scolded. "Watch your language. Who taught you to say something like that? I know it wasn't your mother." One might consider that it was waste of breath since shinobi were notorious for having foul mouths, but most mothers and female team leaders tried to leash this bad habit as much as possible. Typically the girls weren't as bad as boys were; Rin, however, was the exception to the rule.

She shot Naruto a dirty look, having an idea of who to blame. The Kyuubi scooted closer to Sasuke, planning to hide behind the other man should Sakura decide to physically show her displeasure. He had no shame in his actions since any ninja worth his salt knew when to take cover from a pissed off female; particularly a pissed of Sakura who had the strength and the knowledge to hurt you in a million different ways. He was certain that Sakura still had feelings for Sasuke so using the Uchiha as a meat shield seemed his best option should things go downhill.

"Oh Naruto-onii-chan didn't teach me that one," Rin said, earning herself a free ramen on Naruto for saving his bacon. "Kiba-oji-san did." That really wasn't a surprise to anyone considering Kiba's mouth was as foul as Naruto, if not worse actually.

"Just try not to say it again, Rin," Sakura said, mentally making a note to have a talk to Kiba. "Now complaining about it isn't going to change things. The Chuunin exam is going to a lot more difficult because everyone will be training harder to make up for the handicap of having to compete again Sasuke. I still think you three can pass; you're just going to work harder between now and the exam. That means training even when I'm not here to supervise or help."

The three students stared at their teacher, nodding their heads slowly. Sakura wouldn't have told them that they had a chance of passing unless she believed them. She was a good teacher, but she wasn't one to beat around the bush or try to pretty things up. If she said they had a chance to pass, then they had a chance to pass and they would do what she told them to increase their odds of passing.

"That being said," Sakura reached into a pouch hanging on her belt loop and pulled out two bells hanging from a string which made a high-pitched ringing sound. Even from where they stood, Naruto and Sasuke could see that the bells had a metallic pink tinge to them.

"Kakashi-sensei had those made for Sakura when he found out that she'd been assigned a team," Naruto said, which only got him a 'hn' a response. Not that it bothered the blond. The years might have passed them by but in essence they were the same two people they had been as children. Sasuke would never be much of a talker, but he listened and that counted.

"Sakura-sensei we've already passed the bell test," Kyoko said. "Why are we doing it again?"

"You never passed the bell test," replied the pink-haired kunoichi, watching as jaws of the two girls and dogs dropped while Yuki-kun just arched an eyebrow at her. "In that you three failed epically, however you passed my real test and that was to prove that you could overcome your differences and learn to work together as a team. So let's see if you three," the puppies whimpered indignantly and Sakura smiled at them, "correction, you five have what it takes to steal the bells."

"Ha ha, you're on Sakura-sensei," Rin cried, grinning and basically looking delighted with the challenge. Sasuke was beginning to see why Sakura had muttered something about Naruto's influence. The Inuzuka girl was clearly as loud and brash as the blond, although perhaps it was more than the Kyuubi's influence but also Kiba's. The girl had called him uncle before.

"Piece of cake," Kyoko said, pulling a kunai out of her "belt pouch and spinning it around on her finger using the loop on one end. Rin shot her teammate a surprised look, clearly not expecting the kunai. "The only way we get the bells is to attack with the intent to kill, remember? Besides it's not like we'll be able to manage to hurt Sakura-sensei too bad. She is a Jounin after all."

"But we'll still be able to get the bells," added Yukito. His hands came up and made hand seals to activate his Byakugan. As a younger member of the Hyuuga clan, Yukito had to go through the hand seals to help him activate the Bloodline Limit. Older members such as Neji or Hinta could activate their Byakugan at will."Byakugan!"

"We'll see about that Yuki-kun," Sakura said, grinning at her team. "But if this is going to be more of a challenge," she slipped off the red and white kimono jacket and tossed it up on a nearby tree branch, "then I just might work up a sweat." Sasuke noticed that Sakura wore intricate gold armbands on each shoulder, which he figured was to help hide her ANBU tattoo; if she had just worn it on the left shoulder where the ANBU tattoo was typically placed, people would have guessed, but on both shoulders, it just looked like a fashion statement.

Sakura's stance appeared to be nonchalant and unguarded, but to the more experienced eye of a shinobi such as Sasuke and Naruto, it was clear that the kunoichi was anything but an easy target. However the Genin team wasn't that experienced yet and when they suddenly attacked in unison, they had the impression that they had caught their beloved sensei off guard for once. The two girls had thrown punches from different angles while the dogs went for Sakura's legs; it was clear to the older shinobi that the young kunoichi and the dogs were meant as a distraction and that the real attack was coming from Yukito.

It was a smart plan considering the kind of damage that Yukito could inflict using his Byakugan, but not one you could expect to work on a Jounin, particularly one who was also ANBU; not that the kids knew that. Maybe in another few years with some more training to increase their overall strengths, they might be able to get the jump on Sakura, but today wasn't the day. As Yukito seemed to land a hit on Sakura, there was a poof and Sakura was replaced by a wooden log.

A corner of Sasuke's mouth curved up slightly; Substitution Jutsu, one of the techniques that Sakura had excelled in since their time at the Academy. Before he had left, Ino had told him Sakura had made use of it to help him, Naruto and Lee in the Forest of Death. He had never told Sakura that he had been aware of her actions that day, nor that he had been proud of her. The Sakura he had known in the Academy would have just kept freaking out and wait for someone to save them while the Sound shinobi tried to kill him and Naruto. She had stepped up to the plate and even though she hadn't been strong enough then, she hadn't given up.

Sasuke could still remember how badly beaten up she had looked when he had awakened and the sudden rage that had caused inside of him. It didn't matter that he might have considered her annoying once or that she still annoyed him once and a while as his teammate. His family had taught him that he had to protect a girl when she needed it (his mother had emphasized the 'need it' part; Uchiha Mikoto had made sure her sons understood that females could be strong) and Kakashi had taught him that you took care of your teammates. Sakura was both and it had infuriated him that someone would harm her. Yet it seemed unlikely that anybody would harm _this_ Sakura.

"Is that the best you guys can do," Sakura's voice could be heard taunting her students. "I thought I taught you better."

"Yorumaru! Kuroi!" Rin yelled. "Track Sakura-sensei!" With their tails wagging and big doggy grins on their faces, the two dogs began scenting the ground while Yukito made use of his Byakugan.

"Good luck with that," Naruto muttered. "Even Kakashi-sensei has a hard time tracking Sakura-chan when she don't want to be found. Course he only has himself to blame since he trained her in being sneaky."

'Hn.'

Naruto snuck a sly glance at his friend and wasn't too surprised that the Uchiha had activated the Sharingan and was using it to see if he could do what the Genin team couldn't. It would do him no good however. Kakashi had his own Sharingan and it hadn't helped him find Sakura any more than his pack of ninken. While some ANBU had thought Sakura had gained her position because she was the Hokage's apprentice, they had quickly learned otherwise when they thought to teach the pink-haired 'upstart' a lesson to make her quit.

As a medical nin, Sakura had useful knowledge and skills that could use to heal a teammate or herself or take out an enemy. Even when they had been kids, she had always been freakishly strong when her temper was up and that had only been enhanced by her ability to focus her chakra to strengthen her hits. The kunoichi was also smart, had always been smart, since Naruto had known her, and those smarts came into good use in various ways. Sakura had also become a formidable in the use of genjutsu which required the user to have precise chakra control and intelligence, something the pink-haired woman had in spades. It was a talent that she had always had,although it wasn't until she was about seventeen that it had really started to be developed.

The men watched as Yorumaru let out one sharp bark, which caused Rin to make a hand signal to her teammates. It was clear that the male pup had conveyed some message to the young kunoichi, although it still baffled them both how the Inuzuka clan could interpret what their dogs said when a lot of the dogs didn't speak human like Kakashi's ninken. Kyoko suddenly ran up the tree, jumping to grab a branch with heavy foliage. The petite girl swung her body up, twisting her body to kick at something hidden in the trees. Sakura suddenly jumped down from the trees where Yukito waited to attack.

'_Not going to work,_' thought Naruto and Sasuke, ironically in unison but of course neither man knew that.

Just as predicted, just as Yukito landed a hit to Sakura's upper arm, there was a poof of smoke. When the smoke dissipated, there was a small Sakura doll with a note pinned on it that said, "Maybe next time guys." Rin let out a loud growl while Kyoko jumped down looking irritated and their male teammate had an expression of annoyance that more likely directed as himself then at his sensei. The Hyuuga had already acknowledged that their teacher was damn good so he didn't bother getting frustrated at her for being good, but at himself for not being good enough yet.

"Damn it," Rin snarled. "We were sooooo close!"

Naruto and Sasuke watched with silent amusement that came with age, rank and power, or in Sasuke's case age and power. They had both been in the same place as those kids once and understood the frustration that came at still not meeting the mark.

"Rin is Kiba's cousin," Naruto said, deciding to give Sasuke the background of Sakura's team. If they were going to watch the team, Sasuke should at least understand each Genin that had been assigned to their teammate. "Second cousin actually. She's the daughter of his older cousin, Tamotsu, on his mom's side. Rin has a short fuse and tends to be mouthy little thing."

'_Sounds like someone I know,'_ thought Sasuke.

"After one day of being her teacher, Sakura dubbed the kid Nidaime Anko since she's a lot like Anko-san," Naruto continued, which the very thought of sent chills down the spines of both men. Mitarashi Anko was the type of ball-busting kunoichi that made grown men cry or crawl into a corner, not that either man would ever admit this out loud. They did have images to maintain after all.

"Not even close," Kyoko corrected her teammate. "Our speed's still too slow compared to Sakura-sensei's to land a hit. No matter how close we get, she can perform the Substitution Jutsu before we can get her."

"Then if we can't match her speed, we need to find a way to slow her down," Yukito said. Kyoko glanced at her male teammate, meeting his pale gaze, before nodding her head in agreement.

"Kyoko is the brains of Team 2," the Kyuubi said continuing his commentary. "Not that the other two are shabby in that department, but it's usually Kyoko-chan who starts putting the dots together first. Once she's made that first connection, the other two are quick in catching her line of thinking and the three of them solve the problem. They've already had a couple of B-rank missions because they're that good. Well that and Sakura-chan is awesome team leader and teacher.

Kyoko-chan's an orphan like us, although her parents were civilians. She used to live near a village near the Land of Rivers. The village got attacked by some rogue-nin and Kyoko-chan was one of the few that survived. Kid's pretty amazing. A month after it happened, she decided that she was going to be a shinobi and pestered the hell out of the orphanage director until he had her sent to Konoha's orphanage so she could attend the Academy. Iruka-sensei was her homeroom teacher and he says she was more determined to graduate and become a ninja then I was."

That impact of that statement alone was enough for the Uchiha to understand the strength of will and guts the young kunoichi had. It also explained why the child had been assigned to Sakura's team. While Sakura was technically a second-generation shinobi, the fact that her father hadn't trained her before entering the Academy had put her at a disadvantage then the other students who came from a shinobi family or were part of one of the clans. If any teacher would understand Kyoko's needs, it would be Sakura.

"Kid's got lots of potential," Naruto continued. "She's pretty fast and has good chakra control, so Sakura thinks she'd do well as a medical-nin." Speed and chakra control were important elements of being a medical-nin, as one was needed to be able to evade attacks, since their main purpose was to help keep the team healthy and alive, while the other made it possible to be able to properly manipulate chakra to heal another person. "She'll probably get some training in focusing her chakra so she can be another mini Tsunade. Or I guess that would be a mini Sakura since Sakura-chan is teaching her. She's also a natural Lightning Style, so Sakura will probably ask Kakashi-sensei to spend a little time training Kyoko-chan."

Sasuke found himself annoyed after he heard that particular bit of information. He was a Lightning Style type too, so he could help Sakura train her student just as well as Kakashi could. Even telling himself that it was only because he had just returned and Sakura probably didn't remember that Lightning Style was one of the Seishitsu Henka that he possessed. He still wasn't sure if his irritation derived from the change in Sakura's behavior to him since he had returned (which meant that he was merely having problems accepting this change in Konoha) or if there was perhaps more behind to it than that (which meant that he might have feelings for the kunoichi beyond that of friendship).

He knew that it was something he'd have to work out and until he did, he would be careful to keep the relationship between the two of them the same as it had been before, with small concussions to the fact that they were now twenty-two instead of twelve. It wouldn't be fair to Sakura otherwise. He had hurt her and his other friends in Konoha with his defection and the things he had done since then. He couldn't say he regretted his path, but he could feel remorse for the pain that he had caused them. If it could be avoided, he didn't want to hurt any of his friends again.

The Uchiha's attention returned to the Genin team, who had paused for the moment to debate their next move. They were lucky that Sakura didn't possess the Sharingan, otherwise she would have been able to know what they were planning since the Sharingan would have given her the ability to read their lips with great ease. It was one reason why Team 7 had been forced to learn how to communicate nonverbally when they were up against Kakashi. Yukito glanced, apparently sensing Sasuke's stare with his Byakugan. For a split second, the Uchiha was the recipient of what had to be one of the dirtiest and malevolent glares he had ever gotten.

"Don't mind Yuki," Naruto said, also noticing the Hyuuga's apparent dislike of Sasuke. "He's got a crush on Sakura-chan and it's no secret in Konoha that Sakura was once in love with you. Until the kid gets over his crush, you're his love rival."

"Hn."

"Anyways, Yukito is Neji and Hinata's cousin. His mother is Hyuuga Hikaru-san, the younger sister of Neji and Hinata's fathers. Because the Hyuuga clan changed their traditions in regards to the main house and branch house, he's never gotten the cursed seal like Neji." This was news to Sasuke since the Hyuuga clan had practiced the use of the cursed seal on their branch house for generations. He had a feeling that the change in traditions might have something to do with the Kyuubi's influence. "The kid's a good fighter, but he's not a prodigy like Neji. Still doesn't keep him from trying hard since he idolizes Neji, although I think the kid gets his determination from Hinata-chan."

Team 2 seemed to have come to a consensus of what they planned to do, although Naruto's commentary had distracted Sasuke's attention enough that he had no clue as to what the trio would do next. Rin signaled to her dogs once more, which caused them to start tracking Sakura once more. The two dogs moved closer to the men while the three Genin followed. The dogs sniffed near Naruto and Sasuke's feet and while Naruto seemed oblivious of any warning signs, Sasuke was not.

When Kuroi suddenly tried to sink her teeth into his ankle while her brother tried the same on Naruto, Sasuke was already on his guard and moved out of the way. Meanwhile Naruto howled in protest and was sufficiently distracted from anything but the half-grown pup's attack to notice another. Not even Sasuke's "watch out dobe" warning was too late to save the idiot.

Yukito made use of Naruto's distraction to use the Juuken on the Kyuubi and successfully hitting enough major points to have the blond to fall onto his back on the ground. As soon as he hit the ground, Kyoko pounced and landed with her knees digging into the poor idiot's stomach and knocking out the wind of him even further. The redhead's hand deftly pulled out a set of handcuffs from his belt pouch and snapped them on his wrists before he had time to react. The handcuffs were designed to deal with shinobi prisoners, so it also screwed with one's chakra control and it would help keep the Kyuubi's charkra from assisting him for a short time. Hopefully long enough for them to win.

"Okay Sakura-sensei," Rin yelled, looking rather pleased with her team's success, although not so high on it that she didn't keep a wary eye on Sasuke. Sakura really had taught her team well. "We have Naruto-onii-chan hostage. Come out and surrender or the blond gets it!"

There was a moment of silence before Sakura appeared to suddenly walk out of a nearby tree, but clearly it had been a type of genjutsu. "Well now this an unexpected turn of events," she said, although it was clear that she was pleased with her students solution to their problem. She stopped a few feet in front of them.

"No more Substitution Jutsu, Sakura-sensei," Kyoko said, holding her kunai against Naruto's neck. The blond gulped visibly, which brought said neck closer to the kunai but the young kunoichi kept it from cutting him. She had no intention of hurting Naruto, although appearances were everything and ninja were the masters of deception. If their teacher thought that it was possible that they would hurt Naruto to get her to bow down to their terms, then she would agree.

"Yeah, yeah," Rin added. "Hand over the bells now. This battle is won."

"No," Yukito said. "I want to see if I can get a hit if she doesn't use the Substitution Jutsu."

"Fiiiiiine," agreed Rin. She wanted to end this with a win and move on to some other kind of training, but there was no point in arguing with Yuki-kun once he got an idea stuck in his head. While she respected his dedication, she wasn't placing any bets on him managing to pull off this particular feat. Despite her boasts, she was well aware that in this stage of their lives they didn't stand a chance against Sakura-sensei in a fight without resorting to ninja tricks. After all Sakura-sensei had been trained by the Godaime Hokage, who was also one of the Sannin and if that didn't make her powerful and awesome then Rin didn't know what did.

"Well then Yuki-kun," said Sakura, making a 'come and get it gesture' with her finger, "Bring it."

"No Substitution Jutsu?" he questioned.

"None."

The Hyuuga boy smiled for a moment before he attacked. However, no matter how fast he was, he was unable to land a hit on his teacher. It always seemed like he was off by an inch, or perhaps it was more correct to say that Sakura always managed to avoid getting hit. He was fast, but he still lacked the speed it would take to earn a hit on Sakura. It also worked against him that she and Hinata often trained together so she was familiar with the Hyuuga Juuken style and did fairly well at avoiding Hinata's Juuken. She had also occasionally sparred with the Hyuuga prodigy and managed to do well enough against Neji to earn his respect, although she had yet to walk away from a match completely unscathed.

The fight went on for another few minutes before Sakura decided it was time to end things. She focused chakra into her hands, not to enhance strength but to hit key points that would disable him. She wasn't aiming for chakra points as he was, but it was still an effective method. The next time that Yukito tried to strike her, she dodged and tapped his wrist, causing it to flop down uselessly. Anger flashed in his eyes, although she knew it was more at himself then at her. Yuki-kun was always hardest on himself, something she understood very well. He struck with his other hand, but again she evaded and tapped a point in his wrist that had the same results. Before he could respond, she changed the focus of her chakra and hit him in the chest with the palm of her hand. The Hyuuga boy went flying backwards and hit the ground, leaving an impressive skid mark.

"Damn," Rin said, grinning when her teacher turned and shot her a glare. "She wasn't even trying that time."

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_**Final Thought from Rin:**_

_So when do I get that free bowl of ramen, Naruto-onii-chan?_

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_**Author's Note:**_

_So, yeah battle scenes even in the sparring/training sense aren't my forte. Did I do okay?_

_Thank you to everyone who reviewed or added this story as a favorite or their story alerts. _

Itachidisciple123 ● jenniturtlez5 ● Fictionalconfessions ● xXHuntersMoonXx ● Kiyomi Inuzuka ● RavennaAngelline ● Mars _(I'm not really seeing where you got the impression that I was condemning Sakura's fangirling. If anything, it's Sakura who is embarrassed and horrified about her younger self's behavior and from a male perspective like Sasuke, she was a bit annoying. It's their opinions of the situation, I sympathize with Sakura because I behaved that way a lot with boys I liked.) _● Avaline Lasaira ● Uchiha Misaki ● LadyH.J.P.-P ● BleachNaruto2712

_**AO3**_

Kuranichigo

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**Disclaimer:** I do not claim any rights to **Naruto** or the characters associated with the anime/manga. Those rights belong to Kishimoto Masashi and anyone else he says has rights to it.


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